


Your Love Is My Favorite Band

by clowntoss



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Bisexual Annabeth Chase, Coming Out, F/F, Humor, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Piper McLean, Past Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Rating May Change, Slow To Update, i'm gay and i was bored what else can i say?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2020-10-25 13:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20725214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clowntoss/pseuds/clowntoss
Summary: Annabeth Chase is at the top of her game. She’s the student council vice president, captain of both the debate team and engineering club, and she’s got the best grade point average she’s ever had in her entire life. It’s halfway through her junior year of high school, and things are looking good in a way they never have before. Her life is simple and clean, gossip free, and quiet.It all gets a bit more complicated when she meets a certain drummer by the name of Piper Mclean.(AKA the high school band Pipabeth AU no one asked for)





	1. I'm Fairly Certain I'm Bisexual

**Author's Note:**

> these girls need some more love so here we go

_ I’m coming out _

_ I want the world to know _

_ I got to let it show _

_ I’m coming out _

_ ~Diana Ross, “I’m Coming Out” _

When Thalia asked her if she was free tonight, Annabeth didn’t know what to expect. Last time it had been a simple drive down to the beach and quiet night of talking with friends. The time before had been a very illegal display of breaking and entering into school to steal every single writing utensil in Paul Blofis’s classroom. Outcomes and possibilities were unpredictable with the leather-clad, fast-talking, juvenile delinquent she happened to consider her best friend, and she figured tonight of all nights would be no different. 

But did she have to call her up at two in the morning on a fucking  _ Wednesday _ ?

They would have words, the two of them— but later, when she was actually capable of forming complete sentences instead of monosyllabic grunts of annoyance. 

Sneaking out of the house was an easy task. She’d done it countless times now— use the back stairs instead of the front (they creaked less), detour through the dining room to avoid the dog sleeping in the parlor, then slip out through the mud room’s door and into the cool night air— and tonight was no outlier. 

As expected, Thalia stood in the driveway, a slanted grin on her painted lips, hands tucked away in the pockets of her shining leather jacket. Despite the hour, her friend was dressed in her Sunday Best— or something close to it, at least: a pair of crisp, dark combat boots adorned with threateningly sharp spikes of silver on toes and heels; black, holeless jeans (_shocking_); a matching shirt with the words _it’s my body_ _it’s my choice_ printed in curves just below her breasts; and, of course, the leather jacket she had worn since she left the womb. Her hair was as messy as always, spiking off of her head every which way as if she’d been through a tornado, and her eyes looked like the pits of hell personified— but only if the pits of hell were frigid, frosty, and blue. 

She looked far too chipper for two in the fucking morning. 

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest, feeling slightly dressed down in her flannel pajama pants and one of Percy’s old, faded graphic t-shirts. “Should I have changed?” Her voice was hoarse and gravelly from having just woken up, so she cleared her throat lowly. 

Thalia gave her a once-over quick as lightning. “There’ll be people who look worse. Come on— we’re gonna be late.” 

“That could have been avoided if you’d called me an hour beforehand instead of five minutes ago,” she replied flatly. 

Thalia rolled her eyes and led the way down the street to where she’d parked her car. “If I don’t keep you on your toes, who will?” It was Annabeth’s turn to roll her eyes. 

She always thought it an amusing coincidence that Thalia “I-Won’t-Hesitate-To-Shiv-You” Grace, local goth extraordinaire, owned a bright, radiant yellow Volkswagen Beetle, complete with cherry red leather seats and white-walled tires. It had been a gift from her dad— one of the few Thalia had decided to keep. For what reason was completely beyond Annabeth. 

Once both of them had situated themselves in the car, Annabeth asked, “So where are we headed?” 

Thalia sent her a grin, turned the ignition key, and revved the engine. The spark in her eyes was dangerous no doubt, but Annabeth found herself smiling along with her, despite the tired itch in her eyes and throat. Her friend said, “You’ll see when we get there.”

She wished she’d ignored Thalia’s texts and gone right back to sleep. Anything was better than this noisy, hell pit of a room stuffed with far too many people with far too little light. They’d come in through the back door, and Annabeth was fairly certain she was several years short of being legally allowed in here. The smell of liquor and marijuana was overpowering, and somewhere to their left, a band was playing what she thought was an attempted cover of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” The lead singer was too pitchy to really tell. 

“This is great, isn’t it?” Thalia shouted in her ear. 

Annabeth scowled, crossing her arms. “I think your definition of ‘great’ and my definition of ‘great’ are vastly different.” 

Though Thalia was right— she wasn’t the worst dressed here— she felt she most definitely did not fit in. The crowd was a mottled mess in the dim light, but she could catch flashes of pierced ears and noses and lips, glimpses of curling and twisting tattoos covering arms and necks, and clothing that blended into the darkness, making a collision with someone undoubtedly inevitable. 

This was Thalia’s crowd, not her own, but she’d try her hardest not to drag her friend’s mood down too far. 

“Come on, Chase, let loose! This’ll be fun!” Thalia’s voice was almost lost in the crowd as it hooted and hollered, the applause thunderous in her ears as the cover band finished their song. 

“You still haven’t—”

“What?” Thalia yelled. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, eyes flitting around the room, obviously itching to go out to the dance floor. 

Annabeth took in a deep breath through her nose, then tried again, straining her voice just to be heard over the crowd. “You still haven’t told me why I’m here!” 

“ _ Introducing _ —” Thalia’s answer was cut off before it even began by the rolling voice of an announcer booming over the throng, and Annabeth groaned in frustration, “—a crowd favorite, a breakout band, an iconic quartet, it’s the  _ Surgeon Generals _ !” 

_ Surgeon Generals _ ? It was a stupid band name, in Annabeth’s opinion. 

Without warning, Thalia gripped Annabeth’s wrist and took off, weaving through the crowd with ease while Annabeth bumped into everyone and their mother. It didn’t take her long to realize Thalia was forging their way to the edge of the stage, which Annabeth dreaded. The music was already loud, but up there? It’d burst her eardrums. 

About three-quarters of the way there, one of the band members spoke, and the clouds parted, the rain stopped, and Annabeth suddenly understood. 

“ _ Goooooood morning, San Francisco _ !” 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered. 

“My name’s Percy, and that’s Leo, Frank, and Piper,” her favorite idiot continued. “And we are the  _ Surgeon Generals _ !” Thalia and she broke through the front of the crowd, elbowing themselves a nice little pocket of loveliness in the front, Annabeth thankful that the throng around her had settled somewhat once he spoke. 

There Perseus Jackson was, kneeling on the front of the stage, microphone resting against his lips while his free hand was thrown out wide to his side. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying the attention of the crowd, sitting there with the widest smile she’d ever seen on his tan face, completely and utterly relaxed. She was more than a little miffed neither he nor Thalia had mentioned he was in a fucking  _ band _ , but she decided to let it slide for the moment. She’d rather focus on this and find things to tease him about afterward anyway. 

“ _ Kelp Head _ !” Annabeth flinched when Thalia screamed her nickname for the boy, and Percy started, nearly falling over when his eyes landed on her. He raised a hand and pointed at them, smile widening, “Okay, we’ll start now that my two favorite people are here. Ready boys?” Percy stood and took a bright blue guitar from a short, curly-haired Latino boy with a grin curved on his face— a grin that told you yes, he was not afraid to admit he ate the shit. The other boy on stage tossed Percy a guitar pick, and Annabeth was struck with the notion that he reminded her of a bear. A very tall, gentle, hairless bear, but a bear all the same. 

“ _ Hey _ .”

Annabeth looked to the drummer in the back— a girl with warm russet hair (leaning more to the brown side rather than the red) that was cut sloppily and uneven, with what looked like a few little braids scattered throughout, and eyes that seemed unable to choose what color they wanted to be in the moment, cycling like a kaleidoscope through brown, blue, and green. Her pretty—  _ understatement of the year _ — face was scrunched in annoyance at Percy. 

She found herself leaning over to Thalia to ask, “Who’s she?” 

“Piper… uh, don’t remember her last name. Her dad’s pretty famous, though. Some big shot actor or something,” Thalia answered. “Why?”

Annabeth leaned away, licked her lips. “No reason.”

“Sorry, Pipes. Ready boys and  _ girl _ ?” Percy said. In response, each band member strummed or hit their instrument, and Perce turned back to the audience. “We’re gonna play a song Leo and I wrote, all right? It’s called ‘Norgaard’. Hope you like it.” 

The drummer, Piper, slammed her drumsticks together four times, and then the show began. 

Honestly, Annabeth didn’t expect Percy to be able to carry a tune. But there he was, singing fairly well and on-key about a girl with the cheekbones of a Great Dane not wanting to date him. It was a good song, she had to admit— catchy and pretty short, a good taste of what music was to come. She found herself tapping her foot to the beat by the end of it, nodding her head too, and when it ended, she clapped and cheered alongside Thalia, who was screaming something that sounded suspiciously like  _ fuckboiiii _ . 

They played only one song, which Annabeth thought a little strange, but left the stage with the promise of a full album soon. Thalia grabbed her wrist yet again, and they headed back the way they came, toward the back door of the club. Annabeth had just as little luck as she did last time with avoiding running into people, even having her foot heavily stomped on this time, but they did eventually make it, Thalia fresh as a daisy and Annabeth limping ever so slightly. By the time the two of them reached the back door, Percy was already there, blocky guitar case strapped to his back. His bandmates were all three in various states of disarray behind him— the short, scrawny Latino boy was struggling to lug his guitar case down a few short steps, the tall, bear-like boy was trying to assist him only to be flipped off and told to go help Piper, and Piper was in a heated argument with what looked like a stage manager. 

Percy gave them a bright, tired smile, and crushed Thalia and her in a smothering hug. He smelled of salt, sea, sweets, and just a little bit like sweat. “I’m surprised you came,” he said once he pulled back, hands placed on both Thalia and Annabeth’s shoulders respectively. 

“I am, too,” Annabeth said with a pointed look at Thalia. 

“Oh, come on, you had fun,” said Thalia. “I saw you tapping your feet and nodding your head.”

Annabeth ignored the girl and turned to Percy, eyes flicking past him to rest on the drummer girl. She was gesturing wildly, kaleidoscope eyes shimmering in the dim light and glowing with anger. “You guys were really good. Honest.” She looked back at him and sent him a short smile.

Percy grinned and squeezed her shoulder. “Thanks, Wise Girl. It means a lot.” 

Their quiet conversation was interrupted by a thud and a curse, and all three of them turned to look at the Latino boy, who now stood dumbfounded looking between his guitar case, which now sat on the floor, and the handle to it, which he still gripped in his hand. “ _ Shit… _ ” 

Percy’s shoulders sagged, and he let go of both girls, sighing. “I gotta help Leo. I hate to cut this short but—” He jabbed a thumb at his bandmate. “See you tomorrow?”

Annabeth raised a brow, arms crossed. “You mean today?” 

Percy groaned and threw his head back. “Yeah,  _ today _ . Thanks for reminding me.”

“We have a French test, too,” she said. The corners of her mouth threatened to curl into a smile as Percy dragged his hands over his face and let out a pained groan. Several curses slipped out of his mouth, and she couldn’t help but at least smirk. “We’ll study during lunch, alright?”

“You’re a godsend,” Percy breathed. He pulled her into a tight hug, and Annabeth patted his back awkwardly before being let go. 

Percy turned to go, but Annabeth caught his wrist. “Hey, uh…” Her eyes slid past him to the drummer girl, who was now pacing back and forth in the hall, the stage manager nowhere to be seen. Her gaze drifted downward on its own accord, and Annabeth prayed thanks to whatever being watched over her that the lighting was far too dim for anyone to see her blush as she let her eyes roam. “I’d like to meet your bandmates sometime.” 

Percy gave her a grin so bright it could rival the brilliance of her intellect. “Of course! I was planning on it. See you, Annabeth, Thalia.” And with that, he set to work helping his bandmates. 

The walk to Thalia’s car was relatively quiet, and so was part of the drive home. Thalia attempted to start up a conversation, but Annabeth was too caught up in herself to pay much attention. 

There was something on her mind. Something she’d been stuck on for quite a while now. It wasn’t like she didn’t know how she felt about… certain things… 

_ God, Annabeth. It isn’t the end of the world if you just  _ think  _ it.  _

She tucked her hands into her pockets to keep Thalia from noticing how much they shook. 

She was nervous. Why was she nervous? She had nothing to be nervous about. It wasn’t a  _ bad _ nervous, no, more like some sort of excitement, because her heart was pounding in her chest, beating painfully against her ribs, forcing its way up her throat. 

Thalia switched the radio on.

“ _ I’m… comin’… out _ !”

Annabeth slammed her skull back against the headrest. “You’ve  _ got _ to be kidding me…” 

Thalia looked over at her briefly, a questioning look in her eyes. “You’ve got something against Diana Ross?” 

Annabeth ignored her question. “How did you know you were ace?”

Thalia slammed on the brakes. Annabeth flew forward in her seat, choking on her seatbelt, knees banging against the dashboard. They were lucky no one was behind them; otherwise, their night would have been ruined by a fender bender. Annabeth rubbed her throat, scowling over at Thalia, who was looking at her with eyes wide, jaw dropped down practically to the floor. 

Several seconds of silence passed before Thalia asked, “Is that why you broke up with Percy?”

Annabeth blinked. It took her a moment to shake her head, even longer to say, “What?”

Thalia shook her head, brow furrowed, and said, “Hold on.” She pulled her car over to the side of the road, Diana Ross belting in the background about how she wanted the world to know she was coming out, and put it in park. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned in her seat so she was facing Annabeth more fully, her initial surprise exchanged for curiosity and something that looked a little like worry. “What’s all going on in that big head of yours?” 

Annabeth looked at her for a moment, then sighed. “A lot.”

Thalia sighed as well, then reached forward and shut the radio off. “Well, to answer your question, there wasn’t really one singular moment where I thought, ‘Oh, wow! I’m not interested in having sex.’ I never really thought about it, even though it seemed sex was all everyone ever thought about. And yeah, I experimented a bit, and it just confirmed what I’d thought from the beginning— sex isn’t for me.” Thalia shrugged. 

Annabeth bit her lip. “So you experimented, and then you knew?”

Thalia laughed. “Hell no. I knew before.” 

“But  _ how _ ?”

Her friend sighed heavily and leaned back against her seat, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. “Sexuality is different for everybody. Figuring it out is like— it’s like reading. For some, it’s really easy and straightforward. For others, it’s as crazy and complicated as… as…” Thalia snapped her fingers, struggling to come up with the perfect analogy. 

“Daedalus’s labyrinth?” Annabeth offered. 

“Yeah,” Thalia smiled, pointing a finger at her. “Exactly. It all depends on who you are, how you think.” 

Annabeth nodded slowly.  _ Alright then _ . 

“I think I’m into guys—”

“Yeah, we all know that,” Thalia quipped. 

Annabeth scowled, fingers digging into the flesh of her thighs through the material of pockets. “You didn’t let me finish. What I was going to say was,” she inhaled slowly through her nose, and on the exhale, continued, “I think I’m into guys  _ and _ girls. As in, I’m fairly certain I’m bisexual.” 

“Wait a second,” Thalia said, eyes growing wide once again. She shifted in her seat so she was kneeling, leaning over the center console to get right up into Annabeth’s face. “Is this why you were glaring at Piper when we were with Percy?” 

Annabeth scowled. “I wasn’t  _ glaring _ .”

“So you were checking her out?”

“I wasn’t—” Annabeth struggled for words. “I was— appreciating her presence.” She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks and coloring them bright pink, a tight, foreign feeling skittering in her chest. Embarrassment, she thought.  _ Oh Jesus, save me. _

Thalia guffawed at her attempt to deny the fact that she most definitely had been checking out the drummer of the Surgeon Generals— which was still a terribly stupid name. “ _ Yeah _ , you were! And right in front of Kelp Head! Jesus, Chase, I knew you had balls, but really—” Thalia leaned over and ruffled her hair, laughing outright. 

“ _ Okay _ , okay, I get it. It was stupid of me to check her out right in front of Percy,” Annabeth mumbled. She struggled to push Thalia back into her seat, but she did succeed eventually. “Shut up and drive me home, bitch. I need another hour or four of sleep.”

Thalia laughed again, but buckled her seatbelt, put the car in drive. It wasn’t even a full minute before she commented, “You know, I think the two of you would make a cute couple. And I bet you she’s a good kisser.”

Annabeth covered her ears and shut her eyes tight. “I’m not listening to you anymore.” It only made Thalia laugh more, to Annabeth’s complete and utter chagrin. Her friend relented and said little for the rest of the drive. They made it her house with no more major altercations, and before she drove off, Thalia wished her luck on her French test with a sympathetic smile. Annabeth flipped her off in response, though she laughed as she did so. 

She made it back up to her room with little difficulty, other than stepping on some of her brother’s Legos they’d left out the night before and cursing up a storm in her head. By the time she reached her room, she was ready to sleep until eternity ended. She slipped off her shoes, trudged over to her bed, and fell face-first onto her mattress, groaning quietly into her pillow. 

Even though she was completely drained, she felt lighter somehow. Less tense.  _ What a night _ … She turned onto her side, pulled her covers over her body, and let out the most content sigh to ever pass her lips. 

And then the horrible, caterwauling screech of her alarm told her it was time for school. 

“Fuck.” 


	2. You Said You Wanted to Meet my Bandmates, Right?

_ Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly _

_ A girl with kaleidoscope eyes _

_ ~The Beatles, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” _

Annabeth stared at the paper sitting before her. It still felt like a joke— a cruel, cruel joke that honestly needed to fuck off and go bother someone else with its red ‘x’s, red handwriting, and red everything. Just before school began this year, she’d cajoled her dad and step-mother into letting her drop tutoring with Luke, and her grades hadn’t suffered much for it so far— nothing below a seventy-eight point nine-three in her gradebook. 

But  _ this _ would surely change their minds. And it wasn’t like she could tell them  _ why _ she’d failed, because if Frederick and Barbara found out she’d been out after curfew, her grounding would be guaranteed— that is, if it wasn’t already. 

Through gritted teeth, she spat, “I can’t believe this.” 

Percy looked over at her from where he was opening up his lunch sack, dark brows high on his forehead. “It’s only been a day and a half; you can still turn in a corrected version for a better grade.”

She glanced to her left to spare him a glare lacking in length but strong in toxicity. “What do you think I’m doing right now, as we speak?” 

“Yeah, sorry,” Percy said, chuckling lightly. 

This was no laughing matter, but Annabeth chose to let it pass just this once. She needed to focus on fixing her test and calming down, because God knew stress didn’t ease her dyslexia at all. She could already feel a headache forming as she struggled to piece together the notes her teacher had written in the margins, words like  _ conjugation _ and  _ preterite _ turning into mountains for her to struggle past. 

“You still getting tutored by Luke?” Percy asked. 

Annabeth sighed. She set her elbows on the table and pushed her hair out of her face, dropping her pencil to the table with a soft clink. “No, thank God. He was really starting to creep me out.”

Percy nodded. He looked a little lost in thought, brows squished together low over his eyes, lips bowed in a slight frown as he took a bite out of one of Sally Jackson’s famously wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches. He spoke with a full mouth, words muffled as he chewed. “I wish I could have known the old Luke, you know? ‘Fore he went to high school.”

“Me too,” she sighed, picking up her pencil again. “You two would have gotten along great. It’s a shame he’s such an ass now.” 

They fell into silence, then, Annabeth studiously attempting to correct her failed test and Percy munching on his lunch, offering a word of half-assed advice every so often. She honestly didn’t know how he passed and she didn’t— the boy had been out and about for longer than she’d been, yet he’d seemed to at least get a passing grade. Life was unfair like that. 

Slowly, their common group of friends filtered into the cafeteria and took their usual seats at their table, Grover beside Percy and Annabeth, Silena and Beckendorf across from the three of them. Clarisse was nowhere to be found, thank God. Annabeth wasn't sure she could take her Negative Nancy attitude today. Her own pessimism was plenty enough, thank you. 

“How’s it going, Annabeth?”

In response to Grover’s question, Annabeth lifted her hand and gifted him a certain one-fingered salute, then continued on in her work, brow furrowing further. 

“Ok,” Grover said. “Well, then.”

“It’s been a bad day for this one,” Percy chuckled beside her. He slung an arm over her shoulder and shook her gently, earning him a half-hearted slap on the cheek. He laughed and removed his arm from her shoulder as he continued, his hand now rubbing where she’d slapped him, “She failed her French test. Trying to correct it now, but she’s having some trouble.”

“Why don't you work on it with Luke?” Silena asked. 

Annabeth held in her sigh. Her friends were usually good about giving her space when she was working on projects or homework at lunch (a far more frequent happening than she would like to admit), but today it seemed all they wanted to do was include her in conversation. 

It was annoying, honestly. 

“He doesn't tutor me anymore,” she answered Silena, propping her elbow on the table and leaning her head into her hand. “I talked my parents into letting me drop it, but now I’m thinking I maybe should have kept him around. At least for French.” Uncomfortableness be damned, Luke had been good with languages. He said it had to do with his father’s work and travel, but Annabeth thought it had more to do with the fact that some girls thought it attractive he could speak three different languages. 

She was not one of those girls. 

Across the table, Beckendorf smiled. “You know who’s good at French?  _ This _ girl.” He placed a muscled arm around Silena’s shoulders and leaned in to plant a kiss on her flawless cheek. 

“I’m not  _ that _ good,” Silena said, a light pink dusting her face, eyes holding the sort of mirth only fools in love possessed. 

She was selling herself short, Annabeth knew. Her mother’s side of the family hailed from France, and they weren't afraid to let it be known. Annabeth knew from the few times she’d been to the girl’s house that sometimes conversation was held in English, sometimes in French. And every summer without fail, her immediate family took a trip to their motherland to visit cousins and siblings and grandparents. Silena wasn't simply  _ good _ at French; she was fluent in it— practically a native speaker. 

And the more Annabeth thought about it, the more Silena tutoring her made sense. Silena never annoyed her, except for the rare occasions where Beckendorf and she were being sickeningly sweet and open with their affections, and Silena was a patient person— something that was necessary for Annabeth and learning. It wasn't that she was slow— no, her mind was like the rapid fire of a machine gun with an unending clip, potentially devastating and inconceivably keen— but it took her longer to read, to write, to keep her thoughts from tripping over themselves in their haste to be known. And she knew from experience that they work well together; she was the vice president to Silena’s president on the student council. It could work, and it would. She knew it would. 

She was just about to propose her idea when Silena continued. “And besides, I’m already helping Clarisse, Katie, and  _ you _ .” She nudged Beckendorf with her elbow. “I won't have the time between student council, scholastic bowl, debate, and helping you three.” Her pretty eyes dimmed with woe, she said, “I’m sorry, Annabeth. I won't be able to help you.”

Annabeth sunk lower in her seat, eyes settling on the big fat  _ F _ circled on the top of her paper. Just when she thought she’d evaded another fight with Barbara and Frederick, things were thrown off the rails again. Either she needed to build a better train engine or find a new set of tracks, because sitting around and wishing things were different would do her no good. “That’s alright. I’ll just have to—”

“I said  _ I _ couldn't help you,” Silena interrupted her, “but I know someone who can.”

Annabeth looked up again, back straightening ever so slightly with hope. “You do?” Perhaps she wouldn't have to call Luke and coerce him into helping her again with the promise of a date. “Who?”

“My cousin. Percy knows her, so does Charles,” Silena answered. “She’s a nice girl, a little bit of an ass sometimes, but so are you, so—”

Annabeth frowned, “ _ Hey _ .”

“—I think the two of you would get along great,” she finished. 

“Alright, first— fuck you for calling me an ass,” Annabeth started. Silena chuckled, and Annabeth sat back in her seat, smirking despite herself as well. “And second, what’s her name?”

“Piper McLean.”

A warning bell went off in the back of Annabeth’s head, but it was too faint for her to attend to. She found herself nodding her head, then jumped as Percy practically screeched beside her, “It’s  _ perfect _ !”

Annabeth stared at the boy with a raised brow, taking in his jackal-like grin and infectious excitement. His sea-green eyes were wonderfully bright, not unlike the way they shined when he saw his mother after months of being away at summer camp, and Annabeth couldn’t help but smile as well. “Alright, what’s got you worked up?”

Percy’s grin shifted into one of mischief, eyes squinting ever so slightly. “You said you wanted to meet my bandmates, right?”

And it suddenly made sense. 

No wonder she’d had an itch of suspicion when Silena mentioned that name, a slight pinprick of unease. She found her stomach had turned itself upside down, her brain had decided breathing wasn’t an exact necessity at the moment, her cheeks burned at the thought of the girl, the conversation Thalia and she had had afterward. 

“Piper…” Annabeth said slowly, the name tingling on her tongue, “ _ tutoring _ me.” 

“Yeah,” Percy said. His eyebrows were drawn together. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. I thought you’d be excited.” 

_ It’s like the plot of some badly written fanfiction _ . The thought horrified and amused her all at once, making for a rather confused and baffled Annabeth staring blankly at Percy. She felt like a deer caught in headlights, a sixteen wheeler barreling straight toward her, driver laying on the horn like her life depended on it. 

“Yeah,” she finally said. Her next words came just as slow, her mind working in overdrive as she thought through what had just fallen into her lap. “Yeah, I am. Sounds good. I‘ve got to go.” Without another word or glance at her friends, Annabeth gathered her things, slamming her test on top of her stack of textbooks and placing her pencil behind her ear. She lifted her books and set them against her hip, and as she walked past Grover, she absentmindedly ruffled his hair.

She didn’t expect to trip into someone only four steps away from the table. 

Her books went flying (of course) and she herself almost fell flat on her face, if not for the stranger who… 

Oh.

Oh,  _ no. _

_ Shit _ . 

She was staring, nose-to-nose, at a girl slightly shorter than her, brown hair a jumbled mess with a few tiny braids sticking out here and there, a feather even worked into the mix. Her face was quite possibly the most symmetrical piece of artwork Annabeth had ever seen, with subtle cheekbones she could crack diamond on, a jawline that was surely modeled after Aphrodite herself, and a pair of sweet, soft lips quirked in a slightly apprehensive smile. 

_ Oh God, her eyes _ … 

Annabeth couldn’t look away— she’d never seen anything like them before. In the dark of the club those few nights ago, she’d noticed the strange, kaleidoscope-esque beauty of them, but here, where she could see them in full light, she found she simply couldn’t move. She was entranced like she’d never been before, looking into this girl’s eyes, breath faltering, hands sweating, knees trembling, thinking about how much she wished she could crawl into a hole and die because she was quite blatantly staring at her like a complete idiot. 

“You alright?” 

_ shitshitshitshit _

“ _ Shit _ .” Without another word, Annabeth dropped to her knees and scrambled to pick up her dropped books. Piper came down with her, a cross between a chuckle and a sigh breezing past her lips. 

_ Shit _ ?  _ Are you serious, Chase _ ? Annabeth struggled not to chastise herself as she piled her books, fingertips brushing past Piper’s when the girl handed her a small stack of papers and her pencil. She winced at the way the beat of her heart stuttered for a split second. 

“Nice notebook,” Piper commented. 

Annabeth blinked, then looked down to where Piper tapped against the cover of the top notebook, one Percy had given her when she’d filled up her last journal. The album cover of  _ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band _ was on proud display, only slightly beaten up from Annabeth’s taking it with her everywhere. 

Annabeth swallowed down the block in her throat, managing out a simple, “I know.”

The look Piper gave her screamed  _ what the fuck _ , so Annabeth sprung back to her feet and murmured a quick thanks under her breath, feeling the need to lock herself in the bathroom and spend the next half hour trying to calm the rapid beat of her heart. 

_ Why am I reacting like this? She’s just a pretty girl; it’s not like I’ve never seen one before. Just calm down.  _

Piper followed her up. There was a small indentation between the girl’s dark brows, a slight tilt to her head as she said, “I feel like I’ve seen you before… You were at the gig a few nights ago, weren’t you?” Those damned eyes sparkled with excitement and pride. “What’d you think?” 

Annabeth’s mouth had gone dry, the gears in her mind screeching to a halt. She knew her face was red as a goddamn clown’s nose— and honestly, she felt like a clown at the moment. This day just couldn’t get any better, could it? First a failed French test; then Percy suggesting being tutored by a stupidly attractive girl; panicking; then blindly running into said stupidly attractive girl like a complete and utter idiot— and to top it all off, freezing like a moron when the girl asked her a simple question. 

_ Wait _ . Annabeth blanched.  _ What did she ask me _ ?

Staring at Piper blankly, Annabeth panicked. Again. Piper was waiting expectantly, head tilting further to the side as the seconds ticked by. 

_ Ah… what do I— No, don’t think, just go.  _ “I’m going to be late for class.”

Piper blinked at her, and Annabeth blinked back. 

_ …Fuck _ ! 

“I’ll see you around. Bye,” Annabeth breathed. With that, she turned on her heel and began to power walk faster than the pack of soccer moms that lived on her street— which was honestly a rather impressive feat. Someone from her table called her name, said something about her next class not starting for another twenty minutes. Whoever it was, God could fuck them and their time awareness. 

She made it to her locker in record time, heart ticking like a goddamn timebomb in her chest the entire walk there. Her fingers didn’t seem to want to work as she struggled to open her locker, their joints having suddenly turned to jelly. But triumph she craved and triumph she finally received, books semi-falling into her locker as she replayed the last five minutes of her life in high definition. 

God, could she have been any more awkward? She probably came off as a complete dickhead, too, which is not at all a good thing, and the way Piper looked at her? With her head tilted to the side? God above, why was she so unfairly attractive? Why was she, Annabeth Chase, gifted with the social and emotional mastery of a goddamn toddler?

She bit down on her bottom lip, eyes scrunching closed, and took a deep breath. Forced herself to stop thinking so much.  _ Just breathe, Chase. In, hold, out _ . She was blowing things up, making Mordor out of the Shire.  _ There’s nothing else to it, just breathe.  _

Her eyes caught on her French test sitting pretty on the top of her textbooks. 

She immediately thought of Piper. 

Annabeth grimaced. 

“ _ Fuck _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayy i'm back on my bullshit
> 
> sorry for the wait, the world went to shit and i had to focus on graduating highschool, but I'm back now! hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!!

**Author's Note:**

> constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, and if you catch any typos/grammatical errors, please tell me! 
> 
> also  
annabeth chase is a bisexual disaster fite me
> 
> actually please don't, i'm very weak


End file.
